Apparatus for cleansing water-pipes.



Patented Obt. I6, i900.

2 Sheets-.Sheet L IvlIrullll No. 659,643. i

l v. BoNzAsNl. APPARATUS FDR GLEANSING WATER PIPES. (Application led July 11, 1900.)

:(No Model.)

No; 659,643. Patented 0eme, |900.

v. oNzAGNl. Y

. APPARATUS FOR CLEANSING WATER PIPES.f

(Application filed July 11, 1900. y (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheer 2.

WIT/VESSES [NI/ENTOR W5/ffm 77061/515071/ n -f-/Alorney vw: Nonms warms co. Pnoroumo., wAsHmGYoN. n c4 VINCENZO BONZAGNLOE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

APPARATUS FOR CLEANSING WA'TER-PIPES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No'. 659,643, dated October 16, 1900.

Application led July l1, 1900, Serial No. 23,26 9. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern# Be it known that I, VINCENZO BONZAGNI, of East Boston, Suffolk county, State of Massachusetts, have in vented certain Apparatus for Cleansing the Interior of Vater-Pipes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this speci-` fication, in Which- Figure l represents the four corners of tWo streets crossing at right angles with Watermains located thereunder and a sewer or drain pipe With my invention applied thereto; Fig. 2, a vertical section on line x m of Fig. l; Fig. 3, a perspective View showing my flushing-pipe leading from a section of a waterdistributing pipe into a sewer-section. Fig. 4 is a four- Way coupling for intersecting lines of Water-pipes. glass Windows in myvlushing-pipe and different means of securing` them therein. Fig. 8 is a cross-Section through one of my ushingpipes and the manhole by Which it is accessible. Fig. 9 is a transverse section showing the connection of my flushing-pipe With a Waterpipe.

In the distribution of Water for cities,towns, dac., through main, branch, and service pipes either for drinking or industrial purposes it is of vital importance that impurities and sediment be eliminated from the supply. Settling-tanks, coagulating-basins, and ltering apparatus of various constructions have been located at the source of Supply Which cause the deposit of much of the foreign matter and prevent its entrance into the distributing-inlet; but careful experience has proven that the best systems of eliminati-on are only approximately successful, the result being that germs, microbes, or protoplasms of vegetable and animal life invisible to the eye pass through the filter into the distributing-pipes, Where, developing in size and form, some of them perish and decay, and the accu mulation of this refuse taints the Water and is pernicious to the health of the public who drink it and is also injurious wherever employed in the artsfor instance, in paper and starch making, ne-and incrusting and corroding the Water-tubes of boilers, dac. Moreover, the filtration of thewater at the outlet or place of consumption or use-as, for instance, at

Figs. 5, 6, and 7 representl the supply-faucet in houses for drinkingand cooking purposes-does not remove the bad Odor, taste, and unnatural color imparted to the Water during its contact With the impurities Within the pipes.

My present in ventio'n relates particularly to the removal of all such obnoxious sediment from the interior of the Water-'distributing pipes; and this invention consists in a flushing-pipe having an unobstructed straight passage of adequate capacity, in combination with a gate for opening and closing the same and leading directly from the bottom of a Water distributing pipe (preferably a watermain) into the top of a drain-pipe or sewer,

(preferably the nearest thereto,) communi-r cation between the line of Water-distributing pipes iirst to be cleansed and the sewer being opened and the lines of all other watervdistributing pipes (usually connected with the one being cleansed) being temporarily closed by shutting their gates, each line of pipes to be cleansed being opened at two points at least, one at its gate nearest the flushing-pipe and the other at a gate located, preferably, at a higher elevation, unless the line of water-pipes be on a level, in which case a gate may be opened at any convenient distance from the flushing-pipe to be firstemployed, by Which arrangement'. the inte'rior of the several Water-distributing pipes may be successively and thoroughly iiushed by tbe great pressure of the Water due to the elevation of the source of supply above the distributing-lines and the entire accumulation of the unhealthy sediment lodged in the Water-pipes of that line be forced in a solid stream through the direct passage of the straight iushing-pipe (when open) into the sewer.

In the s'aid drawings, A B C D represent lines of main Water-distributing pipes meeting at and united by an ordinary four-way coupling E, Figs. l and 4, at the junction of two streets crossing each other at right angles, the pipes being located underground and to one side of the centers of the streets and provided With gates at b c d, as usual.

p p are manholes by Which the gates are readily accessible.

e is another controlling-gate located at some point on the line A higher than the gate a.

IOO

H is one line of sewer or drain pipe running parallel with the line A of waterdistribut ing pipes and located between it and the contiguous side of the street and at alower level than said line A.

I is a straight pipe, Fig. 3, leading directly from the bottom, Fig. 9, ofone of the water^ distributing pipes A to and into the top of a sewer or drain pipe H nearest thereto, the passage in said pipe I being of sui`cien`t diameter relative with that of the main, branch, and service water-pipes to insure a high degree of velocity of the water in the distribut` ing-pipes and being controlled by a gate r,

accessible by a manhole s, Fig. 8. may be united toits water-distributing pipe by a coupling L, located between the gate a.

h is a circular opening in the top of thel flushing-pipe, and z' is Va similar `opening through its bottom in a vertical line thereunl der. located strong glass disks 7n Z, whose inner Within these openings are securely surfaces are level with the contiguous innerY surfaces of the flushing-pipe, the edges oi"` these disks being laid in lead or Waterproof; cement in a well-known manner to ,prevent` leakage.

Said disks serve as windows by5 which the condition of the interior of the flushing-pipe is viewed, Yand the pipesof the` water distribution are flusheduand rinsed until all of the sediment passing through the;l

flushing-pipes is carried away into the sewer.

Different ways of locating these windows atL the openings h 't' `may be adopted-for in=` stance, glass disks may be `inserted within frames if, which may be placed within 4circu-y lar flanges w, projecting from the `ontsideof` the pipe I and surrounding the openings-h 1',

therein, as seen -in Fig. 5, or the disks may be firmly secured by rings t, turn-ed withi-u. screw-threads formed in `the fianges Aw w, (se'e. Fig. 6,) or a glass tube may be inserted Within the flushing-pipe at `the openings hr1, Fig. 7.

The bottom of the manhole s, Fig. 8, is carried down a short distance below and under-y neath the window of the lower opening t' in 1. order to afford a convenient means of placing a strong light at this point while examining the `condition of 'the insidenf the .flushingof `drain or sewer pipes, a series of straight flushing-pipes of sufficient diameter relative` to that of the main, branchor service Waterpipes, to vinsurea high n*degree of Avelocity of the wateriin the distni-buting-pipes, and leading directly from the bottoms `or the water- Vpipes intoithe tops of -tfhe'drainorsewer pipes and .gates located in 4the iiushing-pipes for opening:andclosingcommunication between the water-pipes and sewers; wherebythe sedimentaccuimulated in the water-:pipes `maybe directly discharged (without obstruction) into their contiguous sewers or drain-pipes, in 1unbroken streams and with the lmaximum degree `of pressure dueto the `fallof -the water; 1al1l constructed to :be operated substantially I as described.

`2. In a system of Water 'distribution .for cities and towns, 85e., a 'ushizng-pipe I in `combination with andinterposed between the `ibottonl of a water-distributingipipe A andthe topiof a sewer yor idrain :pipe H, a meansiof opening and :closing communication gbetween them; an openingin `'the tolp of the 'flushinglpipe, an `opeming in its `bottom directly Ytherevunder, glass windows set within :said opentings; and, a manhole located thereat and Aextended `down below ithe `bottom thereof, to admit of itheapplication Iof `a light for viewing ithe interior of fthe flushing-pipe, as set lforth.

In testimony 'whereof I have signed my name ihereunto before two subscribing witiDeSSGS.

VINCENZO BONZAGNI. Witnesses:

N. W. `STE-Anus, WM. N. SWAIN. 

